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Editorial| Volume 77, ISSUE 1, P1-5, January 2008

Reducing unintended pregnancy in the United States

  • James Trussell
    Correspondence
    Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 609 333 6964; fax: +1 609 258 1039.
    Affiliations
    Office of Population Research, Wallace Hall, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544, USA

    The Hull York Medical School, Hertford Building, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, United Kingdom
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  • Author Footnotes
    1 Tel.: +1 61 2 9850 8095; fax: +1 61 2 9850 9391.
    L.L. Wynn
    Footnotes
    1 Tel.: +1 61 2 9850 8095; fax: +1 61 2 9850 9391.
    Affiliations
    Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
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  • Author Footnotes
    1 Tel.: +1 61 2 9850 8095; fax: +1 61 2 9850 9391.
      Almost half (49%) of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended: There were 3.1 million in 2001 alone, the last year for which data are available [
      • Finer L.B.
      • Henshaw S.K.
      Disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States, 1994 and 2001.
      ]. There has been no change in the recent past; these statistics were the same in 1994 [

      Henshaw SK. Unintended pregnancy in the United States. Fam Plann Perspect 1998;30:24���9, 46.

      ]. One of every two women aged 15���44 in the United States has experienced at least one unintended pregnancy [

      Henshaw SK. Unintended pregnancy in the United States. Fam Plann Perspect 1998;30:24���9, 46.

      ]. What is responsible for the unacceptably high incidence of unintended pregnancy and what can be done to reduce this incidence?
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